SportPesa Boxing presents a stacked night featuring title contention, experienced international talent, and Moroccan fighters proudly representing their city.
Event Information
Date: Saturday, July 25, 2026
Venue: The Edge Convention Center, Nairobi
Gates: 4:00 PM | First Fight: 5:00 PM
Tickets: Available at TICKETSASA.COM
Nairobi has never lacked for fighting spirit, and on Saturday, July 25, that spirit takes center stage once again as SportPesa Boxing returns to The Edge Convention Center for a card that does more than fill a fight bill — it tells a handful of stories worth following. Gates swing open at 4:00 PM, with the first bell scheduled for 5:00 PM, and by the time the night is through, fighters from five nations will have shared the same canvas in pursuit of the same thing: a reason to keep believing in themselves.
At the top of the card sits Javan Buyu, a name that carries real weight in this region’s combat sports scene. A former WBC Africa Muay Thai champion, Buyu steps in against Ramadhan Idd with the UBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Title on the line. Buyu brings an undefeated professional record into the ring, along with the composure and striking pedigree that come from years spent at the top of Muay Thai competition. It is the kind of résumé that tends to translate well between disciplines, and against Idd, fight fans in Nairobi should expect a technically sharp, closely fought contest between two men who have earned the right to be here.
Moroccan Fighters Bring Their City With Them
What makes this card particularly meaningful, though, is the presence of two fighters who traveled a long way to be part of it. Hamza Bounabri and his protégé, Nasro, both hail from Settat, Morocco, and both are carrying more than just their own ambitions into the ring – they are carrying their hometown with them.
Bounabri is no newcomer to this. With more than 50 fights spread across Muay Thai, kickboxing, and related disciplines, he has built a career defined by what he calls his “calculated violence” – a style equal parts patience and precision. He has competed on WBC Muay Thai cards and spent time training at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand, the kind of camp that sharpens a fighter’s instincts against some of the best training partners in the world. And yet for all that international experience, Bounabri has never let go of where he comes from. He represents Settat with a pride that shows up not just in his ring walks, but in the way he treats the next generation of fighters coming up behind him.
That is exactly how Nasro, fighting under the name Habib, ended up on this card in the first place. The young fighter from Settat will make his professional debut in Nairobi against Hagai, an opportunity that exists in no small part because Bounabri went out of his way to help make it happen. There is something worth sitting with in that: a veteran fighter, deep into his own career and his own night’s work, still finding room to open a door for someone from his own streets. Bounabri faces Kenya’s Athuwani earlier on the same card, in a matchup that should test him plenty on its own – but win or lose, watching his fighter debut on the same night carries its own kind of stakes.
A Card Built on Regional Reach
Beyond the headline stories, the full card reflects just how far professional boxing’s footprint has spread across East Africa and beyond:
- Javan Buyu vs Ramadhan Idd – UBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Title
- Juma vs Amon (Kenya vs Tanzania)
- Botumbe vs Andenganye (Tanzania)
- Oduor vs Mapepe (Kenya vs Tanzania)
- Onyango vs Najib (Uganda vs Kenya)
- Waiyego vs Acayo (Kenya vs Uganda)
- Shen vs Omondi (Kenya vs Kenya)
- Hamza Bounabri vs Athuwani (Morocco vs Kenya)
- Asefa vs Kavulani (Ethiopia vs Kenya)
- Nasro (Habib) vs Hagai (Morocco vs Kenya) – Professional debut
- Murimi vs Okuku (Kenya vs Kenya)
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Morocco — five countries, one ring, and eleven bouts’ worth of reasons for fans to show up early. Cards like this do not happen by accident. They happen because someone is willing to put in the unglamorous work of building relationships across borders, chasing sanctioning bodies, and trusting that a diverse matchmaking sheet will draw a crowd rather than confuse one.
That someone, in this case, is promoter Maurice Odera. Under his direction, SportPesa Boxing has quietly become one of the more dependable platforms in East African combat sports – not through flash, but through consistency. Odera’s commitment to putting seasoned professionals alongside first-time fighters, and to giving international names a reason to compete on Kenyan soil, has done real work in raising the profile of the region’s boxing scene as a whole. Nights like July 25 are the visible result of that groundwork: a main event with genuine title stakes, a co-feature carrying an emotional throughline from Settat to Nairobi, and a undercard stacked with fighters looking to make their names known.
For fans heading to The Edge Convention Center, the appeal is straightforward. There is a title fight worth watching closely, a debut worth remembering if it goes right, and a card that, one bout at a time, keeps proving that boxing in this part of the world is only building momentum. Doors open at 4:00 PM, the first fight goes at 5:00 PM, and tickets remain available now at TicketSasa.com.
Combat Sports & Martial Arts Writer| Partnership Marketing and Digital Strategy Lead (Combat Sports)
I have been an avid viewer of Boxing and MMA for decades. I have had an interest in MMA since 2001. I had a 25 year career in healthcare, and now I am pursuing my hobby. I enjoy writing about combat sports and martial arts for FightMatrix.